Instructions

ZOOM IN by clicking on the page. A slider will appear, allowing you to adjust your zoom level. Return to the original size by clicking on the page again.

MOVE the page around when zoomed in by dragging it.

ADJUST the zoom using the slider on the top right.

ZOOM OUT by clicking on the zoomed-in page.

SEARCH by entering text in the search field and click on "In This Issue" or "All Issues" to search the current issue or the archive of back issues
respectively.
.

PRINT by clicking on thumbnails to select pages, and then press the
print button.

SHARE this publication and page.

ROTATE PAGE allows you to turn pages 90 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise.Click on the page to return to the original orientation. To zoom in on a rotated page, return the page to its original orientation, zoom in, and
then rotate it again.

CONTENTS displays a table of sections with thumbnails and descriptions.

ALL PAGES displays thumbnails of every page in the issue. Click on
a page to jump.

Sudanese refugee Ker Wol Mading has
experienced the ravages of war.
His father was killed in the first Sudanese
civil war in 1968; his family was forced
to flee their village several times for
four years after that and in 1983 he felt
compelled to join the Sudan People's
Liberation Movement and Army to defend
his homeland.
He became one of 125 soldiers posted
to Ethiopia to teach and care for the
1200 children abandoned, orphaned and
separated from their families by the war.
His intimate understanding of trauma and
suffering is driving him to raise $150,000
to improve the quality of life of those he
was forced to leave behind when he and
his family migrated to Australia in 2003.
"I was the only one from my village to
leave," says Mr Mading, a parishioner
of St Augustine's Church, Salisbury, and
coordinator of the Dinka Prayer Group.
"I was the lucky one."
Mr Mading works with the Department for
Education and Child Development as a
liaison officer for the African community
in metropolitan Adelaide. Now that he and
his young family are safe and settled in
Adelaide, he feels indebted to securing
access to basic health services for the
villagers of his birthplace in Thiet, Tonj
South County, at Warrap State in South
Sudan.
Caritas Australia reported last month that it
is working through its international network
to assist the thousands who have been
forced to abandon their homes following
fighting during a so-called ceasefire. Food,
shelter, water and sanitation, healthcare
and psychosocial support is desperately
needed.
Mr Mading says the home village of his
mother, sister, brother, uncles and aunt has
no running water, no electricity, no roads
and no school. The closest decent medical
centre is about 105km away.
"We left behind our parents and family
members who have been living in the
same environment since birth; living in
poverty without proper health or education
facilities," he said.
"So we decided to get together and form
a charity and to build at last a health
clinic in the village to help the surrounding
community."
Mr Mading formed the PAMACDA
(Pathnhom Akut Mading Angong's
Community Development Agency) last
year as an incorporated body. It has so
far raised $10,000, mainly through the
collection of cans from local primary
schools.
He says a day surgery with basic
provisions would assist up to 100,000
people and redress the area's high rate
of malnutrition, preventable diseases and
provide much needed maternal services
for pregnant women and newborns.
The foundations of the clinic have already
been built but much more needs to be
done, he says.
Mr Mading is asking Catholic school
communities to assist in the fundraising
drive by collecting cans and is also
seeking volunteers to help with can
collection. To help or to make a donation,
contact Mr Mading on 0437 359 053 or
ker.mading@gmail.com.
TheSouthern Cross
Part of your Catholic family since 1867
$2 inc. GST
April 2014
By Rebecca DiGirolamo
COMPASSION: Salisbury parishioner Ker Wol Mading, pictured at St Augustine's Chapel, is driving a charity to fund a much-needed health centre in the war-ravaged
village of his Sudanese homeland.
Photo: Nat Rogers
Opening doors from afar